Lot 438 Nigeria SC#32 10/- Green & Red On Deep Emerald 1921-1933 KGV Script Imperium Keyplate, Perf 14, Die 2, A VFOG Example, Click on Listing to See ALL Pictures, 2022 Scott Classic Cat. $67.5 USD

A VFOG example of the 10/- green & red on deep emerald from the 1921-1933 KGV Script Imperium Keyplate. Perf 14, die 2. 2022 Scott Classic cat. $67.5.

The imperium keyplate issues of Nigeria are a fascinating definitive series whose complexity rivals any definitive series for this period issued by any of the major industrialized counties like Great Britain, Australia, US or Canada. The Gibbons catalogue gives a very broad overview coverage of the printings, with their listings clearly differentiating between the various coloured papers of the stamps of the first issue: that watermarked with multiple crown CA. But for some strange reason, the listings of the second issue, the multiple script CA issues make no distinction between paper types, even though differences do clearly exist, as the lots in this sale show. Gibbons also does not really attempt to differentiate shades, except in a very rudimentary sense, and the descibe many of the stamps that are actually two different colours as being a single colour. Many of the so called monocoloured stamps, upon close examination are actually seen to be a combination of two close but different colours: one for the head plate and the other for the duty plate (the value and country name). The gum also varied on these issues, with yellowish, cream and colourless gum being found, and with the earlier printings having crackly gum, while later printings have smooth gum. The first issues were almost all die 1, with just a few printings of the pound being die 2. Die 2 comes into mainstream use during the script CA period, and on some sheets of the 1/2d and 1d they occurred on the same sheet, with one die in each pane, which is why the gutter pairs of this value are of significant rarity. Eventually die 2 comes to replace die 1 in the mid 1920's, before reappearing on later printings from 1932 onwards. There are many, many printings made of each value and several collectible shades of each stamp, as well as many different combinations of surface and back colours for the coloured papers.